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Mary Arnold

Some Facts about the Arnold and Boyd Familiesas told to me by Frank C. ArnoldWritten by Mary ArnoldLa Veta, Colorado

Frank's grandfather and grandmother Arnold and some of the Boyd families came to Colorado from Kansas when his father, Asa, was about 4 years old. They settled in Bijou Basin, near Denver and lived there until three more children were born. Aunt Lillie was the oldest of the family and then Asa. They settled in Bijou Basin in 1873. The grandfather became very ill and wished to go back to Kansas where he had lived. (Don't know what town.) Saul Boyd had a pair of Hamiltonian horses (very fast) and a light spring wagon so grandma and Saul loaded grandpa and the children in wagon and
departed for Kansas. Shortly after they arrived, grandpa passed away. After the funeral, the party returned to Bijou Basin. In due time Aunt Cepha was born. They all struggled to make a living. They soon heard of a sawmill in operation on the Cuchara (above La Veta and Cuchara Camps (as it was then called. Now shortened to Cuchara). I forgot to say that three Boyd men left Kansas for Colorado but only two arrived, Saul and Lee. Mike decided to go to Oregon and was never heard from again.

Saul and Lee took up adjoining homesteads above Cuchara and lived there many years. Saul married and reared two children. Will and Maggie. Lee never married. When he died his homestead belonged to Saul. Lee died on a privy seat on his property. Saul, later, died on a privy seat outside a La Veta Hotel where he was then living.

Previous to this, though, Saul and Lee worked at the sawmill and raised potatoes, on the side. Grandma Arnold cooked for the sawmill men, Grandma then married a man by the name of Marquess. ( presume he was employed at the sawmill. He was so mean to her children that she left him and established a home near Stonewall Colorado. (Just a few miles farther up the mountain.) There she and Asa raised potatoes and sold then in Trinidad (about 40 miles). They each drove a team of oxen to a big wagon and peddled their potatoes. It was a four day trip. There was a half-way house where they could stay over night and protect their potatoes from freezing. They could buy enough supplies to last all winter, such as groceries, cloth, and hardware items, etc. Later, grandma married a man by the name of Roberts who had two sons Eddie and Louis. As far as we know the sons are still living (in California). She was keeping house for Mr. Roberts and taking care of his boys at the time. After her husband died she lived in La Veta for many years. She was a mid wife for all the families when she lived in the mountains. She left La Veta in 1923 to make her home in California.

The Arnold children in sequence:Lily Hill (died in California)Asa Arnold (died in La Veta Dec. 9, 1942 - born Jan 27, 1869)Ella Woodruff (died in Oregon)Ira Arnold (was killed while riding a bronco when he was 17 years old in La Veta)Charley Arnold (died in Ventura, Calif.)Cepha Smith (died in California)